Pongal – Tamilnadu’s Makara Samkaranti getting stripped off its Hindu identity.

Published in Ind Samachar

What is Makara Samkaranti for the rest of India is the day of ‘Pongal’ festival in Tamilnadu. Catching up with the difference in the name, the late Karunanidhi found an opportunity to rid this festival of its Hindu identity and chose to call it ‘Egalitarian Pongal’ (Samatthuva Pongal) that can be celebrated by everyone including those of the Abrahamic religions. A decade is gone since then, and Karunanidhi also found his rest but times are such that we are seeing now what he had sown.

Turn on any channel in the TV, you are seeing only ‘Samatthuva Pongal’ – not just ‘Pongal’ celebrated by Muslims, Christians and atheistic politicians. “Samatthuva Pongal” has gained an infectious spread across the State particularly among churches and educational institutions run by the minorities. The Churches are hitting many birds with a single event of this celebration by projecting themselves as the saviours of farmers and as being open-minded and use this as a tool of inculturation of the converted and the future converts.

At Santhome Church: Source HERE

The only sense of satisfaction for an informed Hindu is that it is better for these once-upon-a-time Hindus to celebrate Pongal than to be made to dance for the Thanks Giving Day which is becoming a yearly celebration in Tamilnadu!

 Not to be left behind are the Muslims who have also taken the hint from Karunanidhi and made Samatthuva Pongal a yearly event in their educational institutions. Initially many thought that Muslims would not show interest but what makes them embrace this is known from a report published by The Hindu in 2015 on the event of Samatthuva Pongal organised by the management of a Muslim minority college at Kilakarai. The principal of the college was reported to have said that Samatthuva Pongal helps in burying the religious and communal differences. The only commonality between Pongal of the Hindus and Samatthuva Pongal being the Pongal dish, one is at a loss to understand in what way this dish helps in burying the communal and religious differences!

The actual game plan behind this Samatthuva Pongal became palpable this year on seeing a news report in a TV channel that showed a small group of tribes, not familiar with Pongal in their culture, being made to celebrate this Samatthuva Pongal as a community celebration of three religions! These tribes known as “Paligar” were warrior class who were once employed by Vijayanagara kings to defend the frontiers of their kingdom, says R.V.Russell in volume I of the book ‘The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India’. Their Hindu root is more than obvious by Vijayanagara connection. They were earlier found in the Western Ghats but brought and settled in Nellai district in Tamilnadu in 2001. Easy prey for religious poachers, they are being cosied by the two religions by means of ‘Pongal’, projecting an image that it is being celebrated by all the three religions!

What Hindus had not cared to thrust on these tribes, their handlers had done and made it useful for the two Abrahamic religions – whoever among them is skilful would help the tribes find salvation through Pongal!! Very soon those tribes can be expected to celebrate this festival in their newly found avatars as Christians and Muslims.

Appropriation of Hindu symbols is not new, but hijacking a Hindu festival wholesome is what is being witnessed in Pongal. Cooking the Pongal dish in the open and sharing it with everyone is not a festival – but we have been made to believe it to be so. Karunanidhi’s original plan was to make the day of Pongal the New Year for Tamils and help in combining it with Christmas and New Year. His daughter Kanimozhi worked for it through a Government sponsored festival named “Sangamam” that was started on Christmas day and ended on Pongal day. It is not difficult to know what kind of Sangama she and her father had in mind. Their brainchild is coming off age now with every Hindu being made to pass through Samatthuva Pongal during their study years – the years they are most vulnerable for tall talks on equality, but Pongal has nothing to do with equality. It is unfortunate that even the Hindus-managed educational institutes have fallen for this craze of ‘egalitarianism’ and celebrate Samatthuva Pongal in their premises. Why don’t they celebrate it as just ‘Pongal’ with its Hindu components?

Is Pongal a Tamil festival? 

The brazen truth behind Pongal is that it is not a “Tamil” festival. There exists no record of Pongal festival anytime from Sangam age to later day Tamil dynasties.  The only record comes from the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 1833-34 edition, which describes the way Pongal was celebrated in Tamil lands. It was the same as how it is celebrated by Hindus now in their homes. It was a two day festival then, with Pongal being the first day followed by Māttu Pongal (Pongal of the cows) the next day. On the evening of Māttu Pongal, the temple deity was taken out in a procession on horse-back in hunting posture. On the same day, the Brahmins would foretell the fortunes and mis-fortunes brought by the deity of “Samkaranti” (Samkaranti Purusha) using astrological calculations!

This shows that Pongal was basically Samkaranti festival in the Tamil lands too, with only the name having come into vogue from the popular dish of the day. Cooking Pongal dish is part of any celebration and not Pongal-festival specific. There are proofs to substantiate this from old Tamil texts such as Silappadhikaram. An inscription of Rajaraja Chola I refers to 34 festivals of which 12 are Samkaranti festivals celebrated every month. So Samkaranti is not unknown to Tamil lands.

Pongal festival cannot be called as harvest festival too, as epigraphic evidences show harvest a month earlier, in Karthigai itself. References to ‘Kaarthigai Kāsu’ and ‘Chithirai Kāsu’ in medieval inscriptions do indicate that harvest-payments were made much before the date of Pongal.

What was Pongal festival in Tamil lands?

The current name for the festival and the festival of ‘Māttu Pongal (Pongal for cows) are indicative of their origins from cow-herds of Krishna cult! The previous day celebration of “Bhogi” not finding mention anywhere in literature or epigraphy in Tamil lands and even in the Madras Journal quoted earlier, it is obvious that it had a pan-Indian influence. A Tamil astrological text called “Varushadhi nool” which is the guide book for writing almanacs says that Bhogi is celebrated in honour of Indra - the festival in whose honour was stopped by Krishna. Indra retaliated by heavy downpour but Krishna protected his folks by holding Govardhana hill as an umbrella.  Subdued by this act Indra sought forgivance and the result was introduction of Bhogi festival in his honour, on the day before Makara Samkaranti.

The beating of drums and bonfire on that day was a remembrance of the sport of Krishna dancing on the snake Kāliya. Young Krishna suffered some snake bites in that event and was kept awake by beating the drums while he was being treated for poisonous wounds.

Māttu Pongal is a proof by itself of its origins in Krishna cult. These festivals are a replica of the Annakut and Govardhan Puja in Dwaraka and regions associated with Krishna. Only the time of the festivals had changed.

This kind of worship must have been confined to cattle breeders only (people of Mullai / Aayars) initially and that may be the reason it was not wide spread among others to have found a place in scriptures or inscriptions. In fact there is an opinion that Pongal was the culmination of the month-long Vaishnavite vrat in Margazhi. In course of time, all the people had started following it along with Samkaranti – with Samkaranti having had longer presence and patronage from kings. 

Karunanidhi has given it greater importance thinking that he is de-Hinduising it. Poor chaps – the Christians, Muslims and anti-Hindu Tamil speakers – they are clamouring after Krishna–cult that was once confined to a section of people of Tamilnadu. 

It is time Hindus wake up to the reality of the long standing festival of Samkaranti fused into Pongal of Krishna cult and not fall into the trap of Samatthuva Pongal.

Karunanidhi, why he was the way he was – a karmic analysis!

I know someday I will write this article, and the day had come now. The way a legend got ended on 7^th August 2018 was the last hint I wanted to wait for, to understand one of the finest ways Karma works on human life. The legend I refer to here is Kalaignar Karunanidhi. His end gives a perfect justification for the way he lived his life and for whatever he was known for, both positive and negative which I am not elaborating here. I would rather delve on why he came to hold on to those positives and negatives from the karmic hints found in his horoscope.  

His horoscope is absolutely fantastic, something we don’t come across in one’s life time. Not even Gandhi who got us Independence and is honoured as the Father of our nation could come anywhere near Karunanidhi as far as his horoscope is concerned. Of all the known horoscopes, some features of none other than Bhagwan Sri Rama are comparable with Karunanidhi’s horoscope! This would sound horrific (hope not blasphemous) given the fact that Karunanidhi stood against Rama and was an embodiment of everything that was not of Rama, but he did have some planetary positions as in Rama’s horoscope.

Both Rama and Karunanidhi were born in Kataka lagna. Both had Mars as the Yoga karaka that was exalted in the 7^th house (Capricorn). Both had the 7^th lord Saturn (also the 8^th lord) posited in the 4^th house (Kendra) and in exaltation. Rama had 7 planets in exaltation or in own house whereas Karunanidhi had only three planets in exaltation. But a minimum of three planets in exaltation is sufficient to confer Rajayoga! Karunanidhi lived like a powerful monarch. Beyond this everything of Karunanidhi is totally different from Rama.

The same combinations related to the 7^th house (spouse) made Rama an Eka Patni person. In contrast Karunanidhi had three wives. For Rama the lord of the house where the 7^th lord (Saturn) was posited was Venus that got exalted in the 9^th house. This gives rise to Kaakala yoga that ensures fidelity and complete loyalty to the spouse. For Karunanidhi the same planet Venus has gone into the 12^th house (malefic) which also happens to be a common sign indicating more than one wife and also scandalous relationship.

It is in the sub-sub period of Venus in the main period of the same planet Venus, Karunanidhi left this world. It is from this planet we are able to go back in time to even his previous birth to know why Karunanidhi was – after all a Karunanidhi!

In the horoscope of Karunanidhi displayed above Mars, Saturn and Moon are exalted. Lagna lord Moon is exalted and is in the star of Mars, the Yoga karaka. The 2^nd lord Sun posited in the star of exalted Moon joins it. This combination just falls short of an important yoga called Sreekanta Yoga, related to Shiva!

If the lagna lord, the Sun and the Moon are exalted or in their own houses in trines or angles with each other, the person will be a staunch devotee of Shiva, always seen with Rudraksha mala doing japa. He would renounce material life and become an ascetic. At the end of this birth he would reach Shiva loka and won’t be reborn. 

Such a person (according to Brahmarishi Vaakya) would have had a past karma of having served Shiva bhaktas well and worshipped ONLY Shiva with all devotion.

Similar combination was read by this writer in a Naadi verse that when the Moon and the Sun happen to be yoga karakas (4th and 5^th lords for Aries Lagna or 9^th and 10^th lords for Scorpio lagna) and join at a tine in a friendly house from Mars conjoined with Ketu, the person will be by nature a Gnani and a Shiva Bhakta. He would enjoy all round prosperity and honours from the ruler. He would be engaged in Dharmic actions.

Karunanidhi had the above combinations almost close to the rule. The Sun and the moon are strong and beneficially placed in a trine to exalted Mars. The location in the 11^th house is little less than perfect. The 11^th is 2^nd to the 10^th house of Karma and as such it must signify the outcome of past karma. But his life as Karunanidhi didn’t show any semblance of to the above yogas. Why?

Looking for causes, this combination of Sun and Moon is aspected by Jupiter (retrograde), the lord of 6^th and 9^th house. The 9^th house signifies the religious nature of a person. If the lord of this house happens to be Jupiter and afflicted, it denotes an offence to the Guru (teacher) in the past birth. The sun-Moon combination showing him as a great devotee of Shiva in the last birth had been afflicted by the wrath of a Guru.

Tracing the nature of wrath, one can see a perfect connection between Jupiter, Mercury and Venus in his horoscope. Jupiter is in the star of Mercury, the 12^th lord which is located in the 10^th house (jeevanasthan). The main significance of Mercury is books and the expertise to write. Mercury is in the star of Venus which is located in the house of Mercury (12^th house). Venus is the Baadhaka for his horoscope and is posited in the star of Jupiter!

The Baadhaka nature of Venus is outwardly manifested in his life as polygamy. It also resulted in injury to his left eye (12^th house signifies left eye) that happened in 1953 due to an accident. That was in Jupiter dasa- Mercury Bhukti. It was from then onwards he started wearing dark glasses. The timing and the injury shows harm done to the eye of a cow or a calf in the previous birth.

Looking at hints on past karma, the stronger of the two, the sun and the moon is to be taken. The Sun is stronger in his horoscope in Shadbala and also with reference to its dispositor, the exalted Moon. It is located in the house of Mercury in the Drekkana chart, once again showing some connection to Mercury significance.

On further probing we find Mercury joining the 8^th lord Saturn in the 10^th Navamsa in opposition to Baadhaka Venus and conjoined with the Nodes! This coupling happening in Navamsa completes the picture with Jupiter also going into debility in the 12^th Navamsa. Some offence done to the Teacher with reference a sacred and highly valued book by a high level devotee of Shiva, almost at the verge of attaining Liberation in his next birth had invited a retributive karma of losing sight of the value of teacher, of Dharma and sacred books and devotion to God in his next birth.

In all probability, he would have defiled or wantonly misused or destroyed a precious book of Knowledge of Dharma of his teacher. He must have been a Brahmin then, for, only if a Brahmin engaged in the highest task of preserving the book and knowledge of Dharma had transgressed from that task, the punishment would have been the highest –in consonance with Manu dharma! In that situation, he would have been expelled from whatever high position he was holding and even ostracized from his own Brahmin community as a punishment.

{One must recall the DNA studies that show Brahmins and others having the same genetic origins. A Brahmin fallen from the discipline expected of him was a degraded one and had to engage in activities other than Vedic work. There is a Sangam verse saying that the Brahmins who had given up Vedic homas would engage themselves in shell cutting work (Agananuru 24). As a corollary we can associate the Indus site at Gola Dhoro engaged in shell cutting and gem works with the descendants of Aswatthama known for sporting a precious and rare gem on his head. When driven to forest at the end of the Mahabharata war, the Brahmin community of Aswatthama could have taken up shell and gem cutting as the next option to Vedic life.}

Coming to the past life analysis of Karunanidhi, the fall from the grace of his teacher and the banishment from his own Brahmin community could manifest into the next birth as hatred against Gurus, Mutts, sacred texts and importantly the Brahmin community itself. And Manu had become the most hated word for him.

Kāla Purusha had made use of this Prarabdha karma of him to perpetuate Kali in the current times. Just by one man, Kala Purusha had altered the minds and lives of scores of people for nearly half a century. Karunanidhi had become the tool in the hands of Kāla Purusha!

The level of retribution was such that the great Shiva Bhakta had to lose whatever spiritual gains he made in that birth, but the Punya arising out of it had conferred only material benefits to him. The Mercury connect of reading and writing ability was there throughout  with him working as a tool in his hand to do whatever he was destined to do. One may recall in this context the Thirukkural on how the education one has had in a birth comes to stick to him for 7 births (Kuraḷ: 398)

Starting from the beginning of his life, we can see a correlation at every stage to the kind of Pararabdha karma we explained above. He was born in a famous Kshetra of Shiva (Thirukkuvalai) and his electoral debut was from another famous Shivite location (Kulithalai) but they could not have any impact on him due to the wrath of the Teacher.

A Shiva Bhakt would move away from lures woman and associated attractions, but Karunanidhi was attracted to them and earned a living from his writing skills in those areas.

Parasakthi was the first film that earned him a name and fame as a lyricist, but what did he write in that film? It was abject denigration of Hindu culture, criticism of Hindu beliefs and idol worship. He even went to the extent of portraying a temple priest (Brahmin) attempting to rape a woman within the temple – something outrageous and difficult to even imagine at that time (1952). But he did get away with all that in the name of freedom of speech accorded by none other than famous Brahmin of those times, Rajaji!!

Even to conceive such ideas and convert them into lyrics, one must have had Prarabdha karma of the kind written above.

His obsession with Brahmins and their sacred thread was abnormal to the core. Only if he had been hurt by the banishment from the community in the past life for the offense he did, he could not be expected to have behaved like this.

He even once said, (read here)

“What to do, this chief minister does not wear the sacred thread.

And he was not born in the caste represented by God’s face.

He was born in the caste identified with his feet.”

The provocation for this outburst was an editorial in Ananda Vikatan that was critical of the phone tapping episode by his government. See his reaction, when a misdemeanour is questioned, his response seems to be like his atman was lamenting over a complaint about him that cost him his stature and caste in a past birth.

His atman seemed to be yearning for a place among Brahmins or else why he chose to buy a house from a Brahmin that was close to a temple in a Brahmin agrahara in Gopalapuram?

If not for an anger against the Brahmins for expelling him from their community in the past birth why should he keep abusing them at every possible opportunity to the extent that he declared that Brahmins must shiver at the thought of them (his party). Similar is his outburst that a Hindu means Thief! No person in saner senses will speak like this.

It was absolutely difficult for him not to abuse Hinduism at every possible instance. Even on the occasion of the Moon Impact Probe (IMP) of Chandrayaan I landing on the Moon, Karunanidhi could not avoid abusing the Hindu beliefs while praising the probe in a poem. As a sample case of his ‘literary prowess’, that poem is reproduced below. One can see the mistakes in language, allusion to some lewd expression and abuse of Hinduism – the three common features one can find in most of his works.

‘நிலா பெண்ணே’.

வான் முகத்தில் நகக்குறி போல்

இருக்கின்ற நிலாப் பெண்ணின்

தேன் கிண்ண இதழ்களிலே முத்தமிட்டு-

இந்திய நாட்டுத்

தேசியக்கொடிதனையும் கையில்

கொடுத்து விட்டுத் திரும்பி வரும்

திறமைமிகு விஞ்ஞானத்தின் கரம் குலுக்கி

வாழ்த்துகின்றோம்.

புராணத்தில் வரும் சந்திரனோ;

குருவின் மனைவி தாரைக்கு;

புதியதோர் காதலன் என்று புராணமே

கூறி வணங்கும்!

பாம்புகள் இரண்டு ராகுவும் கேதுவும்

சந்திரனை விழுங்குமாம்;

பஞ்சாங்கம் அதனை “கிரகணம்” என

விளம்புமாம்!

அனைத்தும் பொய், புளுகு, கற்பனையெனத்

தூக்கி அடித்து;

அமெரிக்க, ரஷ்ய, அய்ரோப்பிய

கூட்டமைப்பு நாடுகளின்

அணிவகுப்பில் இணைந்து அருஞ்சாதனை

புரிந்து விஞ்ஞானம்;

அசோக சக்கரக்கொடியை அம்புலியில்

நாட்டியது;

அறிவியக்க வரலாற்றில் ஓர் அற்புதமாம்;

அதுவும் நம் நாட்டில் என்பதிலோர் பெருமிதமாம்!

The title has sandhi-mistake. It must be Nilā-p- PennE, not ‘Nilā Penne’ (meaning, ‘Moon, the girl’). He starts the poem by saying that probe was like planting a kiss on the honey lips of the moon. He goes on to say that the probe had shattered the Puranic version of Moon as the new lover of Brihaspati’s wife, Tara and the Panchanga version of eclipse as Rahu and Ketu swallowing the Moon, as lies and imagination.

One can imagine the level of tolerance the people of Tamilnadu must have had to be treated with this kind of literature by him.

The Mercury effect is in his horoscope is a degraded one. He retained the ability to write but to write in abhorrent ways. None of his works will stand scrutiny by impartial educated ones. None of his write-ups also would stand the test of time.

The cause for his banishment could have been genuine but since the root cause was a great offence to Hindu Dharma, the retributive karma was such that he was impelled by it to make and speak things that he would shudder to do in normal mind. The entire life of Karunanidhi was as though it was under the grip of the retributive karma, done without any freewill or application of his own mind. This reminds me of the Gita vachan, that man does karma absolutely not through his control but under the control of the 3-some Prakruti Gunas. (Bhagavad Gita: 3-5)

He eulogised Thiruvalluvar but never stood by what Thiruvalluvar wrote. His obsession with Thiruvalluvar was as though he treated him as his Teacher – in a bid to appease the teacher of his past birth but lo, what did he do for his memory?

Karunanidhi constructed Valluvar Kottam in the deepest part of the “Long Tank” that covered most of Chennai, by closing that water body. An environmental aggression!

He erected a statue for Thiruvalluvar at Kanyakumari in a style that was not as per tradition. A statue of Thiruvalluvar was already found out in Mylapore showing him in seated posture with Gyan mudra as a teacher. (Below)

Thiruvalluvar was seen wearing the sacred thread in that statue.  But Karunanidhi in the grip of Fate could not accept such features. He erected a stature sans sacred thread and Hindu symbols on the forehead.  

The gesture is Buddhi mudra that is done to understand the Thought emanating from one’s inner self. Thinking of the past birth, it appears Karunanidhi unconsciously chose this mudra in his inner urge to know what he is up to.

Karunanidhi’s obsession with Thiruvalluvar is phenomenal. He identified a year as the birth year of Thiruvalluvar and even introduced a calendar in Thiruvalluvar’s name which Thriuvalluvar himself would not have approved. He even changed the New Year to Thai close to Thiruvalluvar’s birth date he proposed. All that he did was anti-intellectual and unscientific. But thinking from karmic angle, it appears that he had the inner urge to make amends with his teacher of the past birth through Thiruvalluvar, but it turned out that everything of it was objectionable. Strangely he had many takers for his innovations and hate- mongering speeches, may be because there are many with daunting Prarabdha, peopling this Yuga of Kali.

The wrath of the Teacher was such that Karunanidhi held on to those as his teachers who could never be accepted by a person in the right sense of mind. He even installed a statue for one such teacher of this birth in front of Srirangam temple. Interestingly his wrath was directed against Vishnu deities and not Shiva! An intense devotion to Shiva in the past birth involuntarily made him keep away from offending Shiva?

The height of hatred for Hindu deities can be seen in his infamous posturing against none other than Sri Rama! He sounded like a Hiranya Kasipu when he questioned in which engineering college Rama studied. The fact is that he could get away with all the nonsense he spoke. That shows the powerful background karma of enormous proportions behind him. Only a great soul with a strong awakening in the past could wield a dominating negative influence like this in the event of an offense dampening that awakening. The offense had just turned off his sense of right.

Watching his life right from my childhood, the first hint of him coming out of the mess of Prarabdha was noticed by me in his reaction to the speech on Tamil Chandas of Alvars by Sri Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy on a stage shared by them. The expression betrayed by Karunanidhi on that occasion on the stage was that it was as though he was hearing the beautiful verses of Tamil by Alvars for the first time. The verses did seem to have entered his ears which until then were seemed to be filled with lead!

The next improvement was in penning the history of Ramanuja which happened to be the last work in his life as Karunanidhi. It appeared that the power of Mercury whose lord was Vishnu as per astrology gradually gravitated him towards Vishnu. Ramanuja as the tallest Guru for centuries seemed to have signalled a kind of home-coming for the tormented atman of Karunanidhi.

Did the intensity of the offense of the past birth come down?

I was tempted to think so when his health deteriorated on the day of Guru Purnima! There was an eclipse on that night and all eligible Tamil Brahmins were to wake up to do tarpan at 3 am when the eclipse was to wean out.

When this writer also woke up to render assistance in the tarpan, news was flashed on TV and Twitter that Karunanidhi passed away. It was electrifying to read that news as in few minutes all the eligible Tambrahms were going to offer tarpan on the most auspicious time of eclipse of Guru Purnima in which the last mantra is going to enable them offer water to all the atman that have left this world who don’t happen to be their own ancestors.

That means soon after leaving the body, Karunanidhi is going to take the first waters from the tarpan of that Guru Purnima eclipse from the Brahmins whom he pounded very badly while alive. I thought, does this signal the end of the wrath of his Guru? Has he now come out of the Prarabdha, that his Guru had been kind enough to allow him take the first water from the Brahmins on that day auspicious to Teachers?

But no, soon the news changed that he is alive. When I went through the time in his horoscope, I realised his end had come. The period was Venus – Jupiter- Venus- Mars- Ketu.

Ketu, the occupant of the 8^th house in natal chart was also the sub cuspal lord of 6^th, 8^th and 12^th houses. It joined lagna lord moon and maraka Mars in the 7^th from natal lagna on that day. Rahu, the maraka as occupant of 2^nd house in natal chart was in lagna with sun and Mercury. Venus, the Baadhaka and also the 22^nd Drekkana lord was in the maraka house of the natal chart. That moment when Guru Purnima was eclipsed to the maximum was the apt moment for the phenomenal figure like Karunanidhi who offended his Guru in the past to have left the mortal coils.  

But his Prarabdha didn’t seem to end. He was put on life support that merely could have held his breath and the atman was just clinging precariously to the body. The moment they take out the life support, his atman could have got the release. This can be proved astrologically.

It is possible to find out the duration of the unconscious state or the state of transit from the body before death. This is deduced from the remaining degrees in the lagna at the birth chart. The remaining period of the lagna in the sign must be doubled if the lagna lord aspects the lagna and trebled if a benefic aspects the lagna. In Karunanidhi’s horoscope the lagna is aspected by Jupiter!!

The remaining degrees at birth were less than 4. Converted into time (1 degree = 4 minutes, for 4 degrees it is 16 minutes), the remaining 16 minutes in the sign trebled by Jupiter’s aspect gives 48 minutes of transit time for the Atman. It is within this time his system must have been connected to life support machines. So he was breathing while his Atman was wandering into higher realms with Awareness sinking in. The long duration of clinically aided life that we saw for more than 10 days looks improbable from this astrological point of view.

Ten days passed and it seemed the ‘political business’ he started was needed to be strengthened by his descendants. That is the legacy he left behind. All these 10 days his Atman must have been in touch with those at the ethereal level and experienced  several times the re-run of his life and why he behaved the way he did in relation to the Prarabdha  karma.

By the time the heirs decided to take out the life support, his atman could have gained its composure. His party men are thinking that they had succeeded in getting him buried next to his mentor. But his mentor is high above the worldly plane. For normal beings, the atman is said to be hanging around the worldly plane of previous existence. But an extraordinary atman that Karunanidhi is, he must have left for other realms with thoughts on what a damage he had done to the world and how he is going to rectify them all.

It was on an Ekadasi day his atman left completely the mortal connection – the day that one plays the game of Parama padam, popularly known as ladder and snake. There are ladders and snakes at many places in the grid of 100 squares. It is like the video game of ancient times. When one has more punya one reaches the ladder and climbs past several squares. But when one does a pāpa karma, one reaches the mouth of the snake and gets pulled down.

By his exalted devotion to Shiva and discipline, Karunanidhi was almost in the top layer of the grid with only a few squares to cross. But alas, the offense done to Guru threw him into the mouth of a long snake that pushed him down to the lower level. The higher that one is, even a smallest crime will give the gravest retribution. This is enshrined in Manu Neeti. To hate Manu for this is foolish which only those in lowest intellect would do. Being pushed down from his highest pedestal, Karunanidhi’s Atman must have been coming to terms with the reality on that Ekadasi day.

To start the new chapter in his next birth, he has laid the foundation in Ramanuja. He will have to start afresh, but hopefully in a Dharmic way. His association with Ramanuja gives me that hope. Noticeably he fell silent after scripting the Ramanuja serial. It looked as though this newly acquired teacher of his had shut his mouth so that no new karma is made. With the Prarabdha of the past having got worked out, Karunanidhi is going to start a very new life of Dharma, as a worshiper of Hinduism to the extent of protecting it from poaching religions which he allowed as Karunanidhi.

He might even be instrumental in constructing Ram Setu in that future birth. He might even completely put a stop to the absurd Dravidian talk. Powerful one that he is, he will rectify all the wrongs and mis-guidance he had done for over half a century.

In the final analysis, Kāla Purusha as usual emerged a victor in quickening Kali through Karunanidhi. Karunanidhi hailed as a victor in earthly life miserably lost to Kala Purusha and has to start from the beginning. But Karma is never fatalistic; it is a means by which one overcomes it. Karunanidhi’s odd kind of life shows that.

Also read: 

Travails of Jayalalithaa in life and in death - a Karmic angle

Travails of Jayalalithaa in life and in death – a Karmic angle.

This is a blog I never wanted to write.  

I never wanted to write an obituary for her, nor ever wanted to put in writing what I have thought to be her past karma that tossed her into a roller coaster kind of journey in her just ended life.

Never in recorded and memorable history have we come across a ruler very much loved by the masses, emotionally connecting with her as Amma and never have we seen the same ruler very much abused in as many ways as possible by opponents and their brain-washed followers. Such abuses continue even after her death by floating conspiracy theories on every aspect related to her illness and death.

If these conspiracy theories are to be believed, then it means the entire medical fraternity from London Beale to Chennai Apollo to Delhi AIIMS to Singapore physiotherapists have played a big conspiracy on Jayalalithaa!

Her life was an open book, but she was supposed to be secretive in her ways – an impression that continues even in her death.

She has been very frank and vociferous to the extent of admitting a live-in- relationship with a Telugu actor whom she wanted to marry, but the world always connected her with her mentor, MGR. They called her in every possible way – a seductress and a lesbian too. One of her haters, RM Veerappan went to the extent of calling her as a temptress and even telling that she provoked enmity between MGR and Karunanidhi so that she could spend more time with him! But the fact was that she was thrust into film world and then into politics much against her wishes and inherent nature.

When she inherited the party from MGR, she had to inherit his enemies too, particularly Karunanidhi, mainly because she happened to be where MGR was once. No one in a civilised country would have faced the kind of abuses, harassments and name calling that Jayalalithaa suffered in the hands of Karunanidhi and his followers. The kind of negative propaganda spread by them once led her to take a terrible vow – it was terrible because it came from a woman and that too from a person who ruled the glamour world of cinema. It was a vow that she would never wear any jewels until she came out clean from the court cases foisted on her by Karunanidhi. This kind of vow can only be taken by a genuine person who has earned them in rightful ways.

But the sad part of it is that till her death, this case (DA case) was not solved – or rather was not allowed to be solved. At every stage in the cases and also in her administrative decisions, Karunanidhi had thrown spanner in some form with the result that Tamilnadu today is in the lead among all States in the number of cases against the Government actions / rulings.

Coming to her vow on wearing jewels, it was a big surprise to see Jayalalithaa’s body draped in a silk sari and bangles and chain in her body. It was really heart warming to see her make the last journey in those jewels and in a silk sari.

I have read what it would do karmically to a person who has obstructed someone to eat food or drink water. Obstructing a woman to wear her dresses and jewels is something odd. No one judge except perhaps Kumaraswamy who acquitted her in the DA case thought it was odd for someone to spend on buying saris using money through corruption, while it was everyone’s knowledge that her long innings in film field enabled her to acquire all those fancy saris. I am wondering what fate would befall those who steeped to this level to confiscate her saris. Would they ever get atleast a torn piece of cloth to cover their bodies in their next birth?

While the last image of Jayalalithaa draped in silk sari and jewels made me think that her ‘udan piravaa sister’ Sasikala did something right, but the way the final rites were done contrary to the family tradition of Jayalalithaa came as a shock. Having lived a pious life and even wearing Iyengar tilak always, Jayalalithaa would have definitely wanted cremation as per her custom. Why was that not done and who took the decision for burial? All fingers point to none other than Sasikala.

 If Sasikala is a true friend should she not have given her cremation as per Jayalalithaa’s family tradition? Coming to think of it why were all her relatives, expelled by Jayalalithaa allowed to be near her body? They could never come near Jayalalithaa when she was alive. Only Sasikala could get back to Jayalalithaa’s house but that was after she gave an undertaking that she would never be in touch with any of her family members and that she would never aspire for a place in politics, party and in governance. Her letter was displayed in Jaya TV at that time after which Jayalalithaa accepted Sasikala into her household.

If Sasikala had been true to her promise, she would not have allowed any of the expelled members of her family to be near her body. More importantly her husband who was very much banished by Jayalalithaa could not have come near her body if Sasikala had kept up her promise. It is a crass breach of trust by Sasikala.

This breach of trust could become a boon for the conspiracy theorists of her illness and death. These conspiracy theorists won’t accept any explanation or logic except one idea that Sasikala conspired to kill Jayalalithaa. It is not for love of Jayalalithaa they are viciously and vigorously spreading this rumour. All they want to prove is that Sasikala called the shots and that Jayalalithaa was a mere puppet in her hands till her death.

It is sad that even Jayalalithaa admirers feel like buying this theory. Their apprehensions are not without basis, for, to the shock and dismay of all, the entire Sasikala clan who were expelled by Jayalalithaa a few years ago, were seen surrounding the body of Jayalalithaa.

Though there were ups and downs in her relationship with her, Jayalalithaa made sure or thought that she knew where to keep her. But alas, that was not to be so. That sister who promised not to have any truck with others whom Jayalalithaa had thrown out earlier was back with a bang with them, the moment Jayalalithaa was gone. The further happenings also show that Jayalalithaa remained unaware of her designs and was cheated till end. The one whom she embraced as sister, at the cost of losing her own brother and other relatives, was the cause of everything that damaged her life and name.

This is the most shocking of all incidences that happened in Jayalalithaa’s life. A person known for her intelligence and capabilities of sorts, the idea that she had trusted a person all her life without knowing that she had an agenda in her mind makes me wonder what blinded her vision.

I used to be amazed by the kind of Moksha combinations in her horoscope thinking that she would complete her birth as Jayalalithaa with a fulfilled feeling and satisfaction. But no, the developments known after her death make think that she has some unfulfilled issues.

This thought propels me to think whether it was Jayalalithaa’s Prarabdha karma that made her stick to this person unsuspectingly till the end. Not just one but there are five issues that have karmic connection to Jayalalithaa’s past.

Of them (1) Getting cheated by one (till her death) whom she trusted  and (2) the continuous bombardment of whatever she did by a ruthless opponent supported by a sold-out media are spent karma now.

But (1) Not getting the last rites as per the Kula smapradaya of her birth,

(2) Her departure without clearing her name in DA case and

(3) Her feeling of despondency that she could not live a normal life of a girl with normal aspirations on education, family and kids are in the pending list.

Though the first one (not getting the last rites as per her tradition), is also due to a Prarabdha karma, it is a different issue if she had wanted it to be so. But in the absence of any information on her wish on how she wanted her last rites to be performed, it should have been taken for granted that she must be cremated. It happened so with Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. That it was not done so is something that would linger on and would have to happen in the normal way for her in a future birth. This is so since she is known for her piety, respect for tradition and enormous work she has done for the upkeep of temples and tradition. She is even comparable with Ahilya Bai of Indore who was known for renovation of temples and care for the poor and needy.

Ahilya Bai

Taking a look at the Moksha combinations in her horoscope, she has her 12^th lord Venus exalted in Pisces, the zodiacal 12^th house. Venus also goes into the 12^th house to Karakamsa lagna, in the Navamsa. Incidentally, the Karakamsa lord Saturn (Atma karaka) occupies the 12^th house in the Navamsa. Saturn is also the lord of the 12^th house from Venus (12^th lord) in the Rasi.

Jupiter, the lord of the zodiacal 12^th House has exchanged its star dispositor with Ketu, the Gyana karaka. Ketu which is in the star of Jupiter occupies the house of Venus, which happens to be the 12^th lord.

With these combinations, her thinking came to be tinged with equanimity and compassion as years progressed and particularly once Jupiter Dasa started. Compassion to all beings, both animate and inanimate and a mind not disturbed by pleasure and pain (sthitha pragya) are the hall marks of one rising towards Moksha. Jayalalithaa exhibited these traits and was a picture of composure and satisfied mind after she won the recent elections. She had no other karma to be done than serving the people who reposed immense faith in her – which she herself expressed after the results were out.

Disease is part of shedding Prarabdha karma and I think she braved it with calmness of mind. Her end came at a time which did show a trigger effect in the Heavens (horoscope).

Her dasa  lord (Jupiter – Baadhaka and Maraka) and Bhukthi lord (Saturn – Maraka and Ashtama lord) were aspecting the 6^th lord of disease (Mars) posited in the natal 8^th house in exact degrees of coupling at the time she suffered cardiac arrest. At that time her Moon joined Mars and Venus (22^nd Drekkana lord) in the natal 8^th house only to be in the exact degrees (13 degrees) with Rahu (13 degrees) in 6-8 axis. Mars (6L) and Saturn (8L) which have exchanged houses in transit were aspecting Rahu in the house that signifies heart.

Therefore there was no foul play in her death and in the news that she died of cardiac arrest.

But further developments that led to the revelation that she was perhaps cheated by one whom she trusted and the fact that she was not given a religious cremation as per her tradition (since she deserved to be a moksha stuff) makes me think that though they are part of her Prarabdha karma, she would get in her next birth what she couldn’t get in this birth.

Before going further into her life as related to her previous karma and as causative for her travails, let me give a brief on Prarabdha karma and how it can be manipulated.

Everyone’s life is hugely a product of Prarabdha karma and to some extent Sanchita Karma. Sanchita Karma is the total karma that has been accumulated until the present birth while Prarabdha Karma refers to those deeds whose effects have begun or are going to manifest definitely in the present birth. Prarabdha Karma is part of Sanchita Karma and part of Sanchita Karma can be manifest in the present life through Purushartha or human effort.

Prarabdha karma can be further divided into 3 parts –“‘Dridha’, ‘Dridhadridh’ and ‘Adridha’.  ‘Dridha’ means that which is fixed or that which is firmly established or which cannot be bent or cannot be altered. ‘Adridha’ means ‘not firm’ or ‘not decided’.  ‘Dridhadridh’ means both dridha and adridha combined. It is not exactly fixed or not fixed. That means it is liable for changes. Those karmas or past deeds whose results are not exactly formed come under this category. They can be influenced or changed by strong will and determined actions. The last two types namely Adridha and Dridhadridh are subject matter of remedies. They can be altered by appropriate propitiation / remedies assisted by Purushartha (Human effort) and Samskaras. The following schematic diagram explains this.

The Kriyamana Karmas are those which are done by a native during present birth. Part of it is controlled by Prarabdha or fate and part is in the area of free-will of the native. In this limited area alone one enjoys freedom of action as represented by the 10^th house. It is here that one can make or mar one’s destiny. The best course is to enjoy / suffer Prarabdha willingly and do good deeds or charities in the area of free-will.

Looking at Jayalalithaa’s life, this is what she had done – undergo Prarabdha karma and manipulate the changeable part of it.  She herself remarked once that she was controlled by fate and nothing in her life was as she wished. But that did not stop her doing what is required in any given situation. She did them with equanimity – like ‘come whatever may, this is what I have to do here.’ This is exactly as per “Karmani eva adhikaraste, maa phaleshu....” (Gita 2-47) As time progressed she learned to face brickbats and bouquets with equanimity. 

Her 10^th house being Pisces owned by Jupiter, the lord of Dharma, her conscience propelled her to go after Dharmic ways. The laws against conversion and animal sacrifice are something unimaginable for anyone to enact in the present day India. But she did them because she possessed enough conviction on Dharma. Had she succeeded in ban on animal sacrifice, she would have been hailed as a Buddha of the current era, but her Prarabdha karma did not allow her all that. Instead it brought her disrepute and loss of votes.

Though the 10^th lord Jupiter endowed her with Dharmic sense, it being a Baadhaka and subject to Kendra- Adipatya dosha, Jupiter played havoc in her life in its significances. Looking at her life, one can see that  Jupiter related features have played a role mostly negatively.

Her birth itself was on a day that is celebrated for Maha Maham and Mahamaham is determined by the location of Jupiter in the zodiac. Her sacred bath on a Maha Maham brought her disrepute when many people died on a stampede. Though that was not due to her, critics made it an offence done by her.

She had a powerful mentor (Guru) in her life in MGR without whom she would not have come to politics. She herself has said that her life was controlled by MGR during her film career and later in politics. From him she inherited his enemy Karunanidhi and an agenda to keep him away from power. In nearly a quarter century of political war with him, she suffered a lot due to machinations by Karunanidhi and his media men, but managed to reclaim TN from the so-called Dravida Maaya. 

Bhakthi flourished under her inspiration. It appears that her Prarabdha- induced suffering in that war was intertwined with Tamilnadu’s destiny. From what she was described as an arrogant despot, she came to be adored as a benevolent leader by a majority. This transformation is certainly a long march from a bad Prarabdha to a reduced baggage of karma due to her sufferings in this birth.

She was influenced by Kanchi Acharya and she almost treated him like a Raja Guru, but she found herself in a place where she had to initiate criminal action against him. This wiped off any support from her own community and from the faithful.

It was in her tenure that a worst tragedy of fire accident in a school happened that killed many children. School is related to Guru.

The two persons who went against her by court cases that almost ruined her bore the name related to Guru. One was Subramanian Swamy. Swamy is a reverential name to Guru. Another was Acharya. Acharya also refers to Guru. The wrath of these two Gurus wrecked her many a times.

At last she was convicted and lodged in a jail in a place called Parapanna Agrahara. This seems to be a corrupt form of Prapanna agrahara. This refers to a former location of a group of Prapannas (those who have surrendered to God for Moksha) who had lived there. Now a jail had come up in that location. A probe into the origins of this place might perhaps throw some interesting history of why this agrahara came to house a jail. And that history might have a connection with Jayalalithaa in her previous birth.

A life where Guru was inimically disposed to her, had found her waterloo in a place once occupied by Guru like people. So what was the offence done to Guru?

These correlations connect with other dots in her life, prominent being the adoption of a well grown man, under the influence of Sasikala whom she trusted till her end. It is normal to expect a childless to adopt a child. In most cases, the children of near and dear would be adopted by the childless one. But strangely enough, Jayalalithaa discarded her only close relatives born to her brother and went on to adopt a grown up man, a relative of Sasikala and even did a grand wedding for him. That was the singular event that brought her grave disrepute and downfall. That wedding was part of the accusations in the DA case that was unsettled till her death. The important part of it is that she was blind enough to be influenced by someone whom she considered as sister!

Was Jayalalithaa that foolish to believe her? But her decision to adopt a well grown one at the behest of that sister shows that the Prarabdha karma of Jayalalithaa blinded her vision. If Jayalalithaa wanted someone to call her as Mother, she could have adopted a child left in the cradle of her scheme. Or she could have adopted her niece or nephew. But such an intelligent woman that Jayalalithaa is, that she behaved like a puppet in the hands of one whom she trusted as a sister, only goes to show what a strong Prarabdha could do to one. The influence of Sasikala in making her go for that adoption is strong proof of the hidden agenda of Sasikala which has reared its ugly face now after Jayalalithaa is gone.

Jayalalithaa has had some obsession with the identity as Mother. That must have come inherent in her birth due to some Prarabdha karma. She adored her mother very much, but her mother made her do what she didn’t want to – that of acting in films. That mother was not there with her right from childhood whenever she needed her. And when that mother left her, Jayalalithaa was like a fish that had fallen on land. Her travails started because she had none to fulfil the role of her mother. That is what propelled her to blindly depend on someone whose cheating became known to the world without doubt only on Jayalalithaa’s dead body.

All the above events in her life had connection to some event of her past life.

In the end, all that she yearned for is an acceptance as a Mother. What she thought that she would get from an adopted son, she got from the masses.

AMMA is the ultimate honour that she earned upon spending out the Prarabdha karma.

In her previous birth something  that she did for the sake of her son, a la kaikeyi like thing, which impelled her to do many things that invited the wrath of the Gurus or Brahmins who were ultimately curtailed by her, had given what she underwent in this life. Beyond this I don’t want to connect these dots into a life in the past, but leaving it to readers to develop it according to their understanding.

In the backdrop of all these in her previous birth, she must have remained with a hidden agenda as a friend to someone important in those events. Till the end in that birth, she must have managed to conceal her mind from that someone and got her agenda done. A replicating karma of that is what she underwent in the birth as Jayalalithaa!

In this life as Jayalalithaa, Kala Purusha had found a greater utility  in her to influence the lives of many and also the nation. This can become possible only if she had done greater good to a nation in the past inspite of all the karmic issues detailed above. In her past birth, she might have even ruled a country somewhere in nearby Karnataka where she had her genesis and also nemesis in the birth as Jayalalithaa. The events done in the course of that life that affected some Gurus / Raja Guru / and his Guru kul, found a replication in the next birth. That is why she could get a strong band of people who loved her blindly and emotionally and also a band of people who blindly hated her.

With all that she must have realised her mistakes soon in that birth and repented for them and even done lot of propitiatory works. That gave her some elbow room to manipulate the adridha and dridhadridh part of her Prarabdha karma.

The wrath of Guru and a personal desire to favour a son (la kaikeyi) – both combined made her do things that formed the foundation of the Prarabdha karma in her birth as Jayalalithaa. Her innate nature must have been spiritually inclined, otherwise she could not have developed the equanimous tendency after her tryst with the marriage of the adopted son.

Certainly she would not have liked to leave without getting her name cleared in the apex court. The denial of proper final rites is another issue. More than all these, her desire for a normal life of a homely girl is something that must heavily weighing in her mind. With the kind of Moksha related features in her horoscope as Jayalalithaa and the equanimity and complacency she has attained in this birth, she is likely to make one more birth in a Divya Desa like Srirangam, in the family of a pious archaga devoted to the service of God, she is likely to lead a calm and quiet life enjoying all round happiness of family and friends – TRUE friends.

While I wanted to end this article here, new thoughts and correlations cropped up in my mind when I heard that Cho Ramasamy’s health deteriorated at the moment her cremation was done and he passed away within hours after that.  

Cho and Jayalalithaa were known to each other right from their younger age though they hailed from different places. They shared a good rapport and friendship despite all odds right from their younger days. Cho had always been a kind of inner voice or a cautioning voice for her. But he dealt her a grave blow after her first tenure when all that was wrong with her happened. This had a premonitory beginning in the first ever stage appearance of Jayalalithaa. That was when both Jayalalithaa were acting in the stage play of YGP as a couple. In that play Jayalalithaa was killed by Cho who acted as her husband.

Jayalalithaa suffered similar kind of blow after her first tenure and lost elections.  Cho had a major role in giving her that blow. That blow was so severe that all her Prarabdha related sufferings started only from that blow and culminated in her conviction in the DA case. Though Jayalalithaa was upset with Cho for having worked against her, contrary to her nature, she mended ways with him soon after that. From then onwards their friendship and understanding had continued till her death. It is no secret that Cho also had a soft corner for her and wished for her well being.

Now when Cho is gone, it looks he too shared an agenda with Jayalalithaa in stalling the common enemy Karunanidhi. He had played a hand in glove role (without even knowing that it looks so in hindsight) with Jayalalithaa and made sure that Jayalalithaa succeeded in her political agenda. It looks now that he had worked as shadow conscience of Jayalalithaa.

His departure following Jayalalithaa’s demise seems to follow a script of having accomplished a common karma. This shows that they could have had a connection in the previous birth which might even go over to their next birth.

The underlying truth is that Kala Purusha is a wonderful script writer and only those who can read his mind might perhaps escape from his plays!

Ending with somewhat a calm mind I wish AMMA a wonderful time in the Higher realms that she would be in by now. 

My hearty kisses to you, dear AMMA!

Post script:-

The developments in AIADMK post Jayalalithaa's exit look shocking and horrifying. If Jayalalithaa and Cho had been conversing in the other world about what these selfish people are doing, I think it would be something like the film in which they acted.

Updated on 20, Dec, 2016.